Cards score 4 in 9th, beat Nats 9-7, reach NLCS

Members of the St. Louis Cardinals celebrate after Game 5 of the National League division baseball series against the Washington Nationals on Saturday, Oct 13, 2012, in Washington. St. Louis won 9-7. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Doesn’t matter how bad things look for the St. Louis Cardinals. Trailing by a bunch, down to their last strike, they simply stay calm and do what it takes to win.

Erasing an early six-run hole in Game 5 slowly but surely, the defending World Series champion Cardinals got a tying two-out, two-run single from Daniel Descalso and a go-ahead two-run single from Pete Kozma in the ninth inning and came all the way back to beat the Washington Nationals 9-7 Friday night and win their NL division series.

It was the largest comeback ever in a winner-take-all postseason game, according to STATS LLC. No other club in this sort of ultimate pressure situation had come back from more than four down.